577 


SPINE 
STIFFNESS 


-    : 


Spine  Stiffners 


Little  Hypodermics 
for  Real  Estate 
Salesmen 


BY 

ROBERT   B.  ARMSTRONG 


Copyright   1913 

Guy  M.  Rush  Company 

901   Story   Building 
I, os  Angeles,  California 


Number  One 


VACATIONITIS    has    ruined    more    real    estate 
salesmen  than  corn  juice. 
Many  dirt-movers  can't  stand  prosperity 
and  surrender  to  the  hook-worm  early  in  the  morning 
of  their  opportunity. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  vacation"  pQnad  in 
true  selling.  ,  '••" 

Man  is  as  land  hungry  in  August  as;he,is  Jn  Jfieb-1, 
ruary,  but  about  that  time  of  year  the  bl'aze-of-glory 
salesman  is  suffering  from  Catalina  •  Pectoris  or 
Tahoegastritis. 

It  is  only  the  old  plugger  who  was  never  arrested 
for  arson  for  putting  a  torch  to  this  old  world  that 
can  see  a  prospect  after  the  thermometer  reaches  83. 

The  real  estate  office  that  puts  its  feet  on  the 
mahogany  early  in  June  and  keeps  them  there  till 
the  sere  and  yellow  days  needs  an  ambulance  and 
an  operation  for  the  sleeping  sickness. 

Be  generous.  Urge  your  competitor  to  take  a 
long  and  delicious  vacation.  When  he  is  deep  in  bliss 
get  off  everything  that  impedes  work,  down  to  the 
point  where  Anthony  Comstock  would  infer  that  you 
were  out  to  take  away  even  Mary  Garden's  blushes  and 
then  hustle  harder  for  every  degree  of  temperature. 

Otherwise  grass  will  "grow  in  the  streets  of  the 
classiest  subdivision  and  dry  rot  will  undermine  the 
latest  skyscraper. 

If  $450,000,000  "die-to-win  life  insurance "  is  sold 
to  men  who  don't  want  it  in  off  season,  why  should  dog 
days  slow  up  the  realty  business?  Why? 


785932 


Number  Two 


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EOSPECTS  all  look  alike  to  a  lot  of  men  who 
say  they  are  real  estate  salesmen. 
Joyriders  and  lookers-on  all  wear  a  uniform 
if  you're  wise  enough  to  glimpse  it,  but  old  sleepy-eye, 
who  couldn't  see  a  glass  of  beer  on  a  hot  day,  gets  no 
g'o-'sltfw  signal,  and  speeds  up  with  all  the  conversa- 
tional gasoline  in  his  six-cylinder  larynx. 

Restless  roamers  of  both  sexes  who  couldn't  buy 
a  willow  plume  if  they  were  a  dollar  a  pound  get  more 
polite  attention  and  superheated  speech  than  the  horny- 
handed  person  with  the  jeans  full  of  gold  dust  and 
crying  for  a  quick  wedding  of  his  gold  and  some  good, 
clean  dirt. 

It's  lucky  that  there  are  none  of  these  near-sales- 
men in  politics.  They  would  mistake  pussy-footed 
Murray  Crane  for  Toreador  Theodore  and  never  know 
the  difference.  If  one  of  them  happened  to  be  near- 
sighted he  would  take  the  steam-roller  for  a  downy 
couch — and  never  be  missed. 

Courtesy  and  politeness  always,  but  why  use  up 
one  lung  on  a  callow  youth  that  couldn't  buy  a  postage 
stamp  when  a  real  buyer  is  growing  careworn  wait- 
ing for  some  one  to  come  and  take  the  money!  Study 
human  nature  !  Learn  to  discriminate  between  a  pen- 
niless sob-sister  and  a  perambulating  bank  disguised 
as  a  plain  woman  in  skirts. 


Number  Three 


DON'T  be  a  horse-trader  when  you  try  to  sell 
real  estate.  You  have  heard  the  story  of  the 
unhorsey  minister  who  was  shown  a  steed.  The 
dealer  said  he  was  three  years  old.  The  minister 
realized  he  knew  little  about  horses  and  hunted  up 
a  profane  person  who  could  talk  to  horses  in  their 
own  language.  The  two  came  back  and  looked  at  the 
same  horse.  This  time,  under  the  horse-wise  eye  of  the 
profane  one,  the  horse-dealer  said  the  horse  was  twelve 
years  old.  This  jump  of  nine  years  in  the  age  of  the 
beast  in  as  many  minutes  shocked  the  dominie  so  he 
couldn't  speak.  His  friend  saved  the  situation  by  the 
remark:  " Don't  it  beat  hell  how  time  flies?" 

Most  every  piece  of  property  has  a  spavin  or  a 
blind  side.  Don't  gloss  it  over  or  ignore  it.  Tell  your 
prospective  buyer  where  the  property  limps.  If  it  is 
sway-backed  tell  him,  and  then  show  him  that  the  fault 
is  not  one  that  does  the  property  great  harm.  Nine 
out  of  ten  times  the  buyer  will  help  you  over  the  bad 
places  if  you  start  the  ball.  Heaven  help  you,  though, 
if  you  put  on  the  muffler  and  he  finds  out  the  bad  things 
later  without  your  aid. 

An  enraged  wife  waiting  for  you  at  3  in  the  morn- 
ing, after  you've  entertained  a  customer  at  the  club  all 
night,  is  a  placid  joy  in  comparison. 

Cupid  would  have  a  better  batting  average  if  hus- 
bands-to-be could  have  a  private  view  of  the  bride-to-be 
before  she  dolled  up  and  while  she  still  shuffled  around 
the  house  in  a  bathrobe  and  curl  papers. 

It's  the  same  way  with  real  estate.  Show  the 
seamy  side  first,  and  if  there  is  any  knockin'  to  do, 
do  it  yourself. 


Number    Four 


SOME  real  estate  salesmen  treat  prospects  like  a 
newspaper.  They  look  them  over  hurriedly,  give 
them  passing  attention  and  then  cast  them  away 
for  a  fresh  one. 

Into  the  discard  goes  many  a  potential  buyer,  but 
the  salesman  never  follows  him  up.  Some  one  else 
reaps  the  reward.  If  men  made  love  this  way  Cupid 
would  have  to  use  a  rapid-fire  Gatling  gun.  No  engage- 
ment would  last  over  twenty-four  hours,  and  the  bride 
who  did  not  sign  on  the  dotted  line  on  the  second  call 
never  would  have  a  chance  for  Eeno. 

There  are  a  loJk  of  Finnegans  trying  to  sell  dirt  to 
canny  folk.  They  are  as  agile  as  the  famous  Long 
Beach  flea  and  daily  live  up  to  the  text :  ' '  On  again ! 
Off  again!  Gone  again!" 

The  man  who  will  fight  for  an  old  pipe  and  wails 
for  old  wine  wants  his  prospect  to  be  glistening  in  the 
pristine  purity  of  a  virgin.  If  it  is  tarnished  with  a 
single  fingermark  it  fails  to  hold  attention  and  the  agile 
agent  leaps  the  fence  for  new  pastures. 

Working  out  old  prospects  and  making  buyers  of 
them,  appeals  about  as  much  to  the  average  salesman 
as  congratulating  the  loser  in  a  Fourth  of  July  prize 
fight  after  he  has  lost  a  flock  of  your  gold  coin. 

Some  one  ought  to  invent  a  cyanide  process  to 
apply  to  prospects  spilled  by  the  hit-and-run  dirt 
merchant. 


Number  Five 


DON'T  try  to  sell  one  lot  to  a  mass  meeting. 
There's    always    one   knocker   in   a   party   of 
three. 

When  a  salesman  is  battling  to  sell  a  good  piece 
of  dirt  to  two  people  at  the  same  time,  one  of  them 
immediately  commissions  himself  or  herself  as  the  can- 
did friend  and  true  adviser  of  the  other. 

Twenty-dollar  gold  pieces  at  $19.98  would  not  pass 
the  censorious  friend  under  these  circumstances,  and  as 
for  the  best  real  estate  in  the  Garden  of  Eden.  Never ! 

The  proper  way  to  sell  a  lot,  an  acre,  a  farm,  or  a 
business  block,  is  to  organize  a  new  party,  consisting 
of  the  buyer  and  the  salesman. 

Executive  sessions  all  the  time  till  the  deal  is  over 
and  the  ink  dry  on  the  dotted  line! 

And,  why?  Because  the  land  is  not  good  or  the 
price  too  high !  Because  the  agent  is  resorting  to  sharp 
practice  ? 

No.  None  of  these.  It  is  because  human  nature 
is  the  same  the  world  over  and  the  average  mind  yields 
to  the  greatest  argument  or  to  the  person  who  com- 
mands the  greatest  confidence.  The  salesman  cannot 
out-argue  a  friend  who  has  been  trusted  for  years,  and 
whose  influence  is  against  the  proposition. 

Once  in  a  while  real  estate  can  be  sold  to  mass 
meetings,  but  the  average  salesman  will  find  it  better 
to  segregate  the  prospects  and  sell  one  at  a  time. 

It  will  take  longer,  but  the  wear  and  tear  will  not 
be  so  great  and  the  number  of  fall-downs  will  not  be 
so  numerous. 

Concentration  is  the  price  of  closing  and  don't  you 
forget  it. 

Prospects  are  like  racehorses.  Diversions  tend  to 
take  their  minds  off  the  race. 

Keal  estate  salesmen  must  use  the  weapons  of  the 
fencer,  and  it's  a  man-to-man,  mind-to-mind  proposi- 
tion. Don't  mistake  it  for  a  football  rush  with  eleven 
on  a  side.  There  is  no  hospital  where  they  treat  you 
for  lost  commissions. 


Number    Six 


THE  jinx  that  fastens  itself  to  the  real  estate  sales- 
man is  not  poverty. 
It  is  prosperity. 

Show  me  a  commission  man  that  can  stand  oodles 
of  sales  and  boundless  prosperity  and  I  will  show  you 
a  man  that  will  be  heard  from  in  a  big  way. 

For  every  such  a  man  there  are  a  score  of  sales- 
men that  slump  with  a  stagnation  of  success. 

The  voluptuous  caress  of  the  silken  fifty-dollar  bill 
and  the  carousing  chink  of  the  yellow  boys  is  a  sure 
cure  for  the  perspiring  tongue  and  the  hotfoot. 

None  but  the  unusual  dig  for  prospects  when 
the  larder  is  heaped  high,  the  bank  roll  big,  and  the 
swivel  chair  soft. 

Good  salesmen  under  these  circumstances  lose 
their  memory  and  are  the  victims  of  a  queer  disease 
which  makes  them  think  they  are  receiving  tellers. 
They  sit  at  the  gate  and  wait  for  the  sale  to  make 
itself.  All  they  are  willing  to  do  is  to  cash  the  com- 
mission check,  and  even  at  that  some  insist  on  currency. 

Eemember  always  the  story  of  the  Chicago  mer- 
chant : 

His  ambition  in  life  was  to  own  a  team  of  beauti- 
ful horses  and  ride  to  business  in  a  luxurious  victoria. 
At  last  he  won  his  heart's  desire.  But  his  joy  was 
brief.  A  friend  met  him  walking  and  expressed  sur- 
prise. Almost  in  tears  the  prosperous  and  paunchy 
prince  of  merchandising  cried:  "All  my  life  I  vork 
and  vork  for  the  day  when  I  can  lean  back  in  my  car- 
riage and  fold  my  hands,  and  vhen  I  can  afford  idt 
the  doctor  says,  valk,  valk,  valk!" 


Number  Seven 


SOME  brilliant  real  estate   salesmen  talk  them- 
selves out  of  sales. 
They  are  like  the  political  orator  that  the 
late  Paul  Morton  used  to  enjoy  describing  when  he 
was  secretary  of  the  navy. 

' ' This  man,"  Secretary  Morton  used  to  say,  "was 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  orators  this  country  has  ever 
heard,  but  he  had  a  fault  of  talking  too  much.  He 
wore  out  the  brilliance  of  his  welcome  and  left  his 
audience  tired  and  wilted. 

"I  heard  him  once  in  a  company  with  a  friend, 
when  I  was  in  the  railroad  business.  When  the  orator 
finished  I  turned  to  my  friend,  the  railroad  man,  and 
said: 

"  'Well,  Jim,  what  do  you  think  of  him!'  " 

His  reply  was  finished  and  final: 

"  'He's  a  hell  of  a  talker,  but  he  lacks  terminal 
facilities.'  " 

When  a  really  brilliant  salesman  starts  out  with 
a  prospect  and  the  emergency  brake  on  his  vocal 
powers  stalls,  a  good  sale  and  a  fat  commission  are 
slain  by  rhetoric. 

To  the  proverbs  that  we  all  should  know,  but  do 
not,  could  well  be  added  another: 

Speak  with  sincerity  and  conviction — tell  all  the 
facts  plainly  and  judicially,  but  talk  not  to  hear  your 
own  voice!  Learn  to  stop! 


Number  Eight 


A  PERFECT  host  is  the  one  who  draws  out  his  guests 
and  allows  them  to  monopolize  the  conversation.  When 
these  guests  go  home  they  have  had  the  time  of  their 
lives. 

That's  a  hunch  for  the  seller  of  dirt.  Draw  out  your 
prospect!  Get  the  life  story  or  the  essentials.  Give  your 
customer-to-be  a  chance  to  talk,  and  with  wise  guiding  ques- 
tions you  will  learn  the  whims,  pet  aversions  and  hobbies  of 
the  prospect  before  you  even  get  a  chance  to  begin  your  selling 
talk. 

The  best  lesson  you  can  learn  in  your  whole  life  is  to 
be  a  good  listener.  There  are  only  a  few  in  the  world.  There 
are  several  million  good  talkers.  Listen  and  agree. 

Don't  argue!  You  are  selling  real  estate — not  leading 
a  debate.  Win  your  sales.  Lose  any  argument  that  your 
prospect  starts  and  compliment  him  on  being  the  better  man 
in  logic  and  rhetoric.  Tell  him  he  is  one  of  the  few  men  that 
you  ever  found  superior  in  debate  and  he  is  yours.  It  may 
be  a  little  fiction,  but  it  expands  the  chest  of  the  prospect  and 
does  no  one  harm. 

Get  under  the  skin.  Don't  give  the  high  hand  shake 
and  the  settlement-worker  stare.  Talk  with  and  not  at  your 
prospect.  Get  the  prospect  to  talk.  Listen.  He  will  make 
you  a  map  of  his  mental  likes  and  dislikes. 

It  is  as  good  as  trephining  the  skull  and  it  is  not  as  messy. 
Then  sell.  Get  right  down  to  a  personal  "brass-tack"  basis. 
Find  out  by  skillful  questions  the  most  intimate  information. 
Get  the  exact  status  of  the  finances,  his  business  relations, 
his  failures  and  his  ambitions. 

Know  your  man  and  get  as  personal  with  him  as  a 
Tammany  precinct  leader.  The  latter  knows  every  angle  of 
his  followers'  personality. 

The  jewel  expert  is  valuable  for  his  knowledge  of  uncut 
gems.  The  salesman  must  differentiate  his  prospects  into  indi- 
viduals and  get  at  their  peculiarities  before  he  tries  to  sell. 

Men  and  women  do  not  come  in  gross  lots  of  uniform 
specifications.  Get  any  such  idea  out  of  your  system.  You 
have  the  advantage,  when  you  know  how  many  dollars  a  man 
has,  and  he  knows  that  you  know  that  he  likes  to  chew  tobacco. 


Number  Nine 


MARSHALL  FIELD,  America's  greatest  merchant, 
made  it  a  practice  to  buy  something  at  every  counter 
in  his  store.  To  many  of  the  clerks  he  was  unknown, 
even  by  sight,  and  he  picked  his  men  for  promotion  by  seeing 
them  in  action. 

One  day  he  bought  some  neckties.  He  was  very  fussy. 
Time  and  again  he  tried  to  block  the  clerk  or  make  him  lose 
his  temper.  But  the  man  knew  his  stock  and  made  a  friend 
as  well  as  a  customer.  Today  the  former  clerk  is  well  along 
in  the  management  of  the  firm,  for  he  was  almost  immedi- 
ately promoted  by  Mr.  Field. 

He  knew  what  he  was  trying  to  sell.  He  knew  all  about 
ties.  He  knew  what  was  in  fashion.  He  knew  prices.  He 
knew  what  the  other  shops  were  selling,  and  the  prices  they 
were  charging.  He  knew  his  stock. 

Real  estate  dealers  can  take  a  leaf  out  of  his  book.  Some 
of  them  only  know  their  stock  like  another  one  of  the  salesmen 
in  the  house  of  Marshall  Field.  He  was  asked  if  he  knew  his 
stock.  He  glibly  answered  "yes."  He  was  asked  to  explain 
what  he  meant.  "Well,"  said  he,  "I  can  put  my  hand  on 
any  box  of  socks  in  my  department  without  a  moment's  hesi- 
tation." He  was  discharged. 

He  didn't  know  his  stock.  He  simply  had  a  good  speak- 
ing acquaintance  with  a  set  of  shelves. 

Lots  of  men  are  trying  to  sell  read  estate  the  same  way. 
They  know  where  it  is  and  can  get  there  on  the  street  car. 
They  know  how  big  the  lot  is  and  how  much  they  should 
charge  for  it.  They  know  they  must  get  so  much  as  a  first 
payment,  and  can  reel  off  the  stereotyped  terms  like  a  parrot. 
But  there  are  a  lot  of  things  about  the  property  they  never 
took  the  trouble  to  find  out.  They  would  be  up  in  the  air  a 
mile  if  the  prospect  ever  asked  a  half-dozen  leading  questions. 

When  they  pass  a  tract  being  sold  by  another  real  estate 
firm  they  try  to  divert  the  attention  of  the  customer  to  the 
scenery  on  the  other  side  of  the  right-of-way.  They  don't 
know  the  other  fellow's  proposition  and  cannot  compare  it 
intelligently  with  the  one  they  have  for  sale. 

Every  piece  of  land  has  selling  points.  Get  yours  out 
and  get  the  other  fellow's!  Don't  knock,  but  when  the  inevi- 
table comparison  comes,  be  ready  for  it. 

Know  your  land !  Know  more  about  it  than  anyone  else, 
and  be  ready  to  answer  any  possible  question  on  cross-examina- 
tion. 


Number  Ten 


DON'T  smut  yourself  with  a  business  that  you 
make  sordid.  If  you  can't  make  real  estate 
selling  something  more  than  a  money-grubbing 
scheme  quit  it. 

Drive  a  coal  wagon  and  get  down  to  real  drudgery. 

Eeal  estate  selling,  when  done  right,  is  empire- 
building  on  a  small  scale. 

The  man  who  helps  make  the  unthrifty  save,  who 
shapes  a  home  out  of  fritter  money,  is  as  big  a  factor 
as  the  educator  or  the  diplomat  in  world  building. 

The  man  who  plants  a  subdivision  carefully  and 
reaps  a  well-built  section  of  an  important  city  creates 
a  slice  of  a  great  state  in  a  greater  nation. 

His  deed  or  dream  may  be  less  colossal  than  that 
of  Cecil  Khodes,  the  empire  builder  of  Africa,  but  it  is 
empire  building  just  the  same. 

Eeal  estate  selling  the  right  way  is  a  big,  fascinat- 
ing helpful  human  game. 

Play  it  right ! 

Don't  be  a  grubber,  seeing  nothing  but  the  tawdry 
dollars  and  forgetting  the  humane  service. 

As  you  yourself  think  of  your  work,  so  it  is.  If 
you  are  ashamed  of  it — think  it  sordid,  selfish  graft, 
so  it  will  be.  If  you  get  the  finer  points  of  view,  real 
estate  selling  will  be  something  more  than  selling  dirt. 

Make  your  business  a  joy  and  a  thing  of  pride. 


Number  Eleven 


HOBOES  don't  make  good  real  estate  salesmen. 
Some  of  them  have  an  excellent  command 
of  language  and  present  arguments  clearly  and 
forcefully.    Yet  they  fail  to  convince. 

Their  appearance  is  against  them,  and  first  im- 
pressions are  the  ones  that  last  longest. 

Dress  up  the  leading  salesman  of  any  live  realty 
organization  in  the  ragged  motley  of  a  hobo  and  he 
would  fail  every  time.  He  is  the  same  man,  but  neither 
the  world  nor  himself  thinks  so. 

Appearance  has  an  effect  not  only  on  the  project, 
but  on  the  salesman  himself. 

Stubble  on  the  face,  spotted  clothes  and  unshined 
shoes  have  cost  more  than  one  sale. 

The  man  who  is  careless  of  his  appearance  doesn't 
carry  conviction. 

It  is  a  simple  decency  one  owes  to  the  man  or 
woman  he  calls  on  to  present  the  advantages  of  real 
estate  to  be  neatly,  carefully  groomed. 

But — Don't  overdo  it. 

Dolled-up  dudes  distract  the  mind  from  any  real 
estate  proposition. 

A  leader  of  men  makes  it  a  practice  to  turn  down 
business  from  correspondents  whose  letters  bear 
smeared  signatures  on  the  ground  that  a  man  who  is 
too  careless  to  blot  a  signature  is  too  careless  to  trust. 

It  applies  to  personal  appearance  as  well. 

Be  neat,  but  not  sumptuous. 


Number  Twelve 


DON'T  you  get  fighting  mad  when  some  one  mis- 
pronounces your  name? 
Aren't  you  a  little  wild  when  some  one 
spells  it  the  wrong  way? 

Well. 

We're  all  alike  in  this  respect. 

Political  feuds  have  been  started  in  Washington 
by  calling  a  man  names  unintentionally. 

Men  that  have  rhinocerial  hides  on  every  other 
test  jump  like  a  scared  rabbit  when  you  mangle  their 
cognomen  or  do  violence  to  the  spelling  of  the  first, 
second  or  third  label  that  differentiates  them  from  the 
rest  of  humanity. 

A  member  of  Congress  who  had  a  peculiar  name 
that  was  easily  mispronounced  challenged  an  ancient 
and  careless  man  to  deadly  combat  because  of  a  mis- 
pronunciation. 

Now:  Eemember  this  when  you  are  interesting 
people  in  real  estate,  get  the  name  right  and  pronounce 
it  right. 

Be  careful  of  that  tender  point  that  is  common 
to  us  all.  Some  of  us  whose  forbears  were  plain  Mike 
Hogans  have  been  decorated  like  a  French  fop  and  are 
now  Michael  Angelo  Hoganesque. 

All  the  same,  the  name  is  sacred. 

Don't  trifle  with  it  if  you  would  have  your  batting 
average  stand  high  on  the  sales  board. 


Number  Thirteen 


ESE  your  clock  if  you  want  to  sell  lots  of  real 
estate.  If  you  hold  on  to  your  watch,  use  it  only 
to  keep  appointments. 

Get  the  one-lunged-power  rooster  and  tie  him  to 
your  window. 

Spend  your  evenings  talking  to  prospects. 

Play  the  most  fascinating  of  all  games — sales- 
manship— when  your  opponent  is  relaxed  and  receptive. 

He  will  listen  to  a  poorly-told  story  of  good  real 
estate  when  you  couldn't  sell  him  gold  dollars  for  90 
cents  apiece  in  the  daytime. 

It  is  as  much  fun  as  bridge,  chess  or  billiards,  and 
it  pays. 

If  your  prospect  wants  to  start  at  four  in  the 
morning,  go  with  him. 

If  necessary,  get  a  police  permit  to  carry  on  trade 
at  unusual  hours. 

It's  that  time  that  counts  most. 

A  past  master  in  the  art  of  salesmanship  declares 
that  !)0  JKT  cent  of  the  calls  made  in  the  evening  are 
productive  of  interest,  and  of  these  75  per  cent  even- 
tually result  in  sales. 

If  you  can't  exist  with  as  little  sleep  as  did  Napo- 
leon, take  a  cat  nap  in  the  middle  of  the  day. 

Alake  sales  while  the  electricity  shines. 

Alfalfa  needs  the  sun. 

You  don't. 


Number  Fourteen 


STAE  gazing  don't  help  you  sell  real  estate. 
But! 
There  is  a  sale  in  every  paragraph  of  the  recol- 
lections of  Los  Angeles  pioneers. 

Go  down  to  Seventh  and  Spring.  Look  at  the 
Van  Nuys  building  and  then  spread  250  silver  dollars 
out  flat  on  the  first  floor.  It's  the  price  at  which  that 
lot  was  offered  not  so  very  long  ago. 

A  fistful  of  the  dirt  is  worth  as  much  in  this  day 
of  grace. 

The  same  is  true  almost  anywhere  in  the  business 
district  of  Los  Angeles. 

The  past  indicates  weakly  the  future  of  this  city. 

There  is  just  as  much  to  be  made  as  has  been  made. 

Some  of  the  prices  we  think  are  high  will  be  just 
as  ridiculous  in  a  couple  of  decades. 

Take  any  section.  Price  the  soil  there  today,  five 
years  back,  twenty  years  back,  thirty  years  back,  and 
you'll  have  to  use  force  to  prevent  a  wise  man  from 
buying  land  in  Los  Angeles  at  present  prices. 

The  day  when  the  tourist  crop  was  the  pre-emi- 
nent one  is  over. 

The  day  of  the  canal,  of  factories,  of  ships  to 
the  seven  seas  is  dawning. 

A  city  of  millions,  distributing  to  many  other 
millions,  food  and  money,  manufactures  and  machinery, 
means  jumps  in  real  estate  as  great  as  any  in  the  past 
and  twice  as  many  of  them. 


Number   Fifteeen 


ASOLINE  has  made  the  horse  take  the  count. 
But— 

It  has  not  eliminated  horse  trading  from 
business.  In  spite  of  the  carburetor  congress  tricks 
of  the  old  horse-swapping  days  come  to  light  in  every 
line  of  commercial  activity. 

Eeal  estate  is  not  free  from  the  chap  whose  ances- 
tors used  to  dope  up  an  animal  and  pass  it  off  as  the 
real  Nancy  Hanks  just  rediscovered. 

These  salesmen,  shame  to  say  it,  and  some  firms, 
are  just  as  tricky  as  the  horse  fancier  gypsy  before  the 
six-cylinder  put  the  racetrack  into  the  discard  and 
turned  the  thoroughbred  into  a  strap  and  a  bone  and 
a  hank  of  hair. 

The  tricky  salesman  says  his  ability  is  shrewdness 
or  business  diplomacy,  or  putting  the  right  foot  fore- 
most. Yet  tricky  is  the  right  name. 

He  is  the  fellow  that  tells  his  buyer  some  of  the 
truth  but  not  all.  He  is  the  fellow  that  never  sells  the 
same  man  twice.  He  is  the  fellow  who  never  builds 
up  a  following  that  has  confidence  in  the  judgment 
and  in  his  frankness. 

This  same  whirlwind  and  lightning  wizard  of  the 
sales  force  reports  sales  by  the  score  and  prospects 
by  the  bale.  When  the  office  cashier  checks  up  his  sales 
the  list  looks  like  a  peek-a-boo  waist  before  it  is  filled. 
The  dotted  line  signature  fades  away,  and  the  gold  in 
the  first  payment  somehow  don't  stand  the  acid  test. 

Yet  these  salesmen  wonder  why  they,  like  the 
Wandering  Jew,  must  ever  go  from  pillar  to  post. 


Number  Sixteen 


THERE  is  a  doctor  in  Los  Angeles  who  no  longer 
enjoys  the  fine  practice  he  once  held  in  the  hol- 
low of  his  hand. 

He  has  no  bad  habits. 

He  has  great  skill. 

He  is  a  wonderful  surgeon. 

He  is  remarkably  accurate  in  diagnosis. 

But— 

He  never  kept  an  appointment  in  his  life. 

He  is  always  late. 

Sometimes  it  is  many  minutes. 

Sometimes  it  is  hours. 

Once  in  a  while  it  is  a  day  or  two. 

The  doctor  never  meant  to  disappoint. 

He  has  no  idea  of  time  or  its  real  value. 

Some  real  estate  salesmen  are  like  the  doctor, 
and  their  commissions  shrivel  from  the  same  cause 
that  cut  his  practice. 

When  you  set  a  time  remember  it. 

When  you  say  you  will  be  at  a  certain  place  at  a 
certain  time  be  there  if  you  have  to  walk  or  call  a  taxi. 

Some  men  whose  word  is  as  good  as  their  bond 
on  matters  financial  have  wasted  several  years  of  other 
people's  time. 

Are  you  one  of  them? 


Number  Seventeen 


EAT  onions  if  you  must  just  before  you  lean  over  a 
prospect  to  show  him  the  dotted  line,  but— 
Never  perfume  the  breath  with  spirits  fru- 
menti.  Some  day  you  won't  be  able  to  see  the  dotted 
line. 

This  is  not  a  temperance  lecture.  It's  a  shoulder 
jab  on  business  selling. 

You  have  enough  to  overcome  without  handicap- 
ping yourself.  Assuming  you  can  ' '  carry  your  likker, ' ' 
as  they  say  in  the  South,  it's  a  foolish  burden,  and 
some  day  when  you  are  not  looking  it  will  list  to  port 
or  starboard  and  you  will  be  shipwrecked. 

J.  Barleycorn  has  stood  sponsor  for  more  mem- 
bers of  the  down-and-out  club  than  all  the  rest  of  us 
put  together. 

A  social  glass  at  lunch  has  put  the  rollers  under 
more  than  one  sale. 

A  breath  that  no  able-bodied  clove  could  smother 
has  driven  a  willing  buyer  to  the  tall  uncut. 

Exercise  your  liberty,  but  don't  violate  elemental 
business  rules.  If  selling  real  estate  interferes  with 
having  a  good  time,  take  a  boat  and  go  to  sea.  There 
are  no  subdivisions  there. 

George  Perkins,  who  was  an  aide  to  J.  P.  Morgan 
for  many  years,  always  drank  ice  water  instead  of 
champagne  at  banquets.  To  the  writer  he  once  said: 

"Business  is  just  like  athletes  at  a  training  table. 
You  must  be  in  condition.  Break  training  and  the  other 
fellow  has  you  beaten  before  the  race.  Business  and 
not  sentiment  keeps  me  on  the  water  wagon." 


Number  Eighteen 


DON'T  play  turtle  and  then  wonder  why  you  don't 
sell  real  estate. 

Some  men  who  try  to  live  by  trying  to  sell 
real  estate  draw  into  their  shell  and  wait  for  the  pros- 
pect to  break  open  the  shell  with  an  axe. 

Lots  of  good  men  and  women  having  the  money 
and  the  inclination  to  buy  real  estate  just  put  it  off. 
They  walk  or  ride  around  the  town  in  which  they  live 
until  they  collide  with  some  aggressive  seller  of  realty. 

They  sell  themselves.  He  just  holds  the  split- 
second  watch  and  counts  time.  The  only  other  thing 
he  does  is  to  collect  the  commission.  Wait  a  minute; 
there  was  one  other  thing — 

He  kept  his  eyes  open  and  his  mind  clear.  His 
tongue  wasn't  tied;  he  knew  real  estate  and  he  delib- 
erately got  in  the  way  of  people  who  ought  to  own 
realty. 

Lots  of  land-hungry  people  are  riding  around  Los 
Angeles  and  every  other  city.  They  have  some  money 
and  a  consuming  desire  to  buy  a  bit  of  dirt  that  they 
can  call  their  own. 

The  adaptable  salesman  will  not  wait  to  be  intro- 
duced. He  will  collide. 


Number  Nineteen 


AMAUSEE  bullet  generally  does  the  business,  but 
a  scattering  shotgun  is  only  accidentally  effec- 
tive. 

Some  salesman  can't  get  the  rifle  habit.  They 
scatter.  They  are  the  victims  of  too  many  prospects. 
They  flutter. 

Ever  notice  a  good  millinery  saleswoman?  She 
concentrates.  When  she  is  trying  to  fit  a  beautiful 
woman  to  a  peach  of  a  hat  she  concentrates.  For  the 
time  being  the  world  holds  only  two  people.  She  is 
one  and  the  hat  hunter  is  the  other.  And  she  makes 
the  sale,  even  if  she  has  to  lock  the  door. 

Lots  of  us  like  to  leap  the  fence  and  try  the  grass 
in  the  next  lot.  It  looks  better. 

We  get  a  long  list  of  prospects  and  we  flit  from  one 
to  another  and  never  make  a  sale. 

Get  a  few — a  very  few  real  prospects — and  con- 
centrate. 

Be  a  sharpshooter  salesman  and  use  a  rifle. 


Number  Twenty 


MANY  good  salesmen  are  tripped  up  by  the  per- 
sonal pronoun  perpendicular.  The  egotism  that 
is  necessary  to  make  a  good  salesman  becomes 
an  obsession.  Dissertations  on  art,  medicine,  religion, 
gardening,  the  raising  of  children,  do  not  help  sales. 
When  the  ideas  are  put  forward  aggressively  and 
dominated  by  a  string  of  I — I — I — I,  sales  are  killed 
outright. 

Massage  the  other  man's  conversational  powers 
and  curb  your  own,  if  you  would  sell  real  estate.  Taboo 
the  personal  pronoun  perpendicular.  Only  a  few  men 
have  been  able  to  use  it  effectively  as  a  big  stick.  If 
you  are  compelled  to  discuss  argumentative  subjects 
be  mild  and  impersonal  and  always  take  a  licking  grace- 
fully. Winning  a  contention  never  earned  you  a  dollar. 

Money  still  converses.  A  big  commission  can  say 
several  pleasant  words  to  you.  An  extra  big  one  has 
vocal  chords  that  even  a  prima  donna  might  envy. 

Substitute  for  that  long,  slim  egotist  I  the  $  as 
your  favorite  character  in  the  Eoman  alphabet,  and  let 
it  do  all  the  boasting  for  you. 


Number  Twenty -One 


IT'S  hard  for  the  average  man  to  decide  which  hat  of 
a  dozen  offered  is  the  most  becoming. 
Many   a   bachelor   is   unmarried   because    he 
couldn't  decide  between  two  charming  young  women. 

Many  a  "Wish-I-Had"  has  fringes  on  his  trousers 
because  he  couldn't  decide  which  piece  of  property  to 
buy  and  consequently  bought  nothing. 

Therefore  the  real  salesman  of  real  estate  will  make 
up  his  mind  as  to  the  particular  piece  of  property  that 
the  property  seeker  is  going  to  buy. 

It  will  be  a  case  of  splendid  concentration  once  the 
decision  is  made. 

The  prospect  will  buy  the  piece  selected  or  the 
chances  are  he  won't  buy  any. 

Tactful  questions  will  give  the  salesman  the  neces- 
sary limits  of  price,  particular  features,  and  uses  to 
which  the  property  is  to  be  put  and  it  is  up  to  him  to 
pick  the  right  piece  from  his  stock. 

Purchasers  have  no  last  and  size  number  to  help 
them  buy  real  estate  and  the  selection  is  up  to  the  sales- 
man. 

If  the  purchaser  is  allowed  to  oscillate  there  will  be 
no  sale  ninety-nine  times  out  of  a  hundred. 

And  there  never  will  be  a  sale  if  the  prospective 
buyer  knows  that  his  mind  has  been  made  up  for  him 
by  another  and  in  advance  at  that. 


Number  Twenty -Two 


SOME  real  estate  men  are  mighty  weak  on  deduc- 
tion. They  try  to  tell  the  distance  a  frog  can  leap 
by  his  looks. 

They  try  to  size  up  prospective  customers  by  their 
clothes  or  their  accent  or  by  the  way  they  part  their 
hair. 

They  act  frequently  like  the  automobile  salesman 
at  one  of  the  big  shows  did  to  an  old  farmer  who  pes- 
tered him  about  his  car.  Finally,  in  order  to  get  rid 
of  the  roughly-clad  son  of  toil  he  grudgingly  gave  him 
a  scant  demonstration.  When  it  was  over  the  sales- 
man fairly  ran  to  get  away  from  the  persistent  farmer 
and  the  old  man  had  to  do  a  marathon  to  get  the  sales- 
man to  take  a  roll  of  bills  in  payment  for  the  car.  It 
was  a  cash  sale  and  a  good-sized  one. 

Judged  by  his  speech  and  clothes  the  old  man's 
pocket-book  couldn't  jump  very  far  toward  paying  for 
a  car. 

Some  people  who  have  the  earmarks  of  joyriders 
are  not.  Some  who  look  like  ready  money  are  confed- 
erate currency  and  in  poor  condition  at  that. 

Unfailing  courtesy  is  the  price  of  continuous 
selling. 

Better  haul  a  lot  of  lookers  than  miss  a  live  one. 

Gasoline  is  cheaper  than  remorse. 


Number  Twenty-  Three 


BE  resourceful. 
If  you  can't  get  results  directly  try  a  carom 
shot. 

Put  some  English  on  your  methods. 

If  you  can't  make  a  sale  one  way  figure  out  an- 
other line  of  approach,  like  the  man  did  who  couldn't 
spell.  He  was  a  new  policeman  on  the  Brooklyn,  New 
York,  force. 

One  day  he  came  in  and  reported  a  dead  horse  in 
Kosciusko  street,  named  after  the  famed  Polish  patriot. 
He  asked  the  sergeant  to  write  the  report.  The  ser- 
geant refused  and  told  the  new  civil  service  addition 
to  the  force  to  write  it  himself.  He  tried.  He  scratched 
his  head,  asked  for  the  correct  orthography  from  a 
half-dozen  fellow  bluecoats.  He  even  appealed  a  sec- 
ond time  to  the  sergeant,  but  in  vain. 

Then  he  acted.  He  jammed  his  helmet  down  on 
his  ears  and  started  on  a  run  for  the  street. 

"Hey,  where  are  you  going?"  yelled  the  sergeant. 

1 1  Going  to  pull  that  blanked  horse  around  into 
Clay  street,"  reported  the  poor  speller,  as  he  dashed 
through  the  door. 

A  man  like  that  would  never  fall  down  on  a  real 
estate  sale. 

Sooner  or  later  some  line  of  attack  will  result  in 
a  surrender  to  the  lure  of  the  dotted  line. 

If  you  can't  buck  the  line,  go  around  the  end. 


Number  Twenty-Four 


BE  up  to  date. 
Seize   every   modern   weapon   of   business   bat- 
tling in  the  selling  game,  and  make  every  blow 
count. 

If  you  can't  use  the  telephone,  cable,  or  telegraph, 
grab  the  wireless. 

If  an  automobile  can't  get  over  inaccessible  roads 
to  your  prospect,  commandeer  an  airship. 

Sounds  foolish,  but  it  isn't. 

The  other  day  two  life  insurance  men  had  a  chance 
to  write  a  big  policy  on  a  merchant  of  great  wealth. 
It  was  a  plum  worth  much  money  and  more  prestige. 
The  merchant  was  in  the  interior  of  France,  at  an 
out-of-the-way  place.  The  roads  were  none  too  good, 
but  opened  one  way.  One  of  the  insurance  men  started 
over  these  roads  in  a  high-powered  motor. 

More  up  to  date,  the  other  man  literally  flew  to 
his  man.  He  made  use  of  the  latest  device  in  locomo- 
tion— a  monoplane — and  was  caressing  the  check  and 
the  application  when  the  automobile  arrived  in  a  cloud 
of  dust  with  a  dejected  and  beaten  competitor  aboard. 

Get  up  to  the  minute  and  stay  at  the  head  of  the 
procession. 


Number  Twenty -Five 


EVEE  wonder  why  the  farmer  appearing  salesman 
with  gawky  gait  and  unstylish  clothes  has  such 
a  high  batting  average  in  filling  the  dotted  line? 

It  isn't  because  he  is  uncouth. 

It  isn't  because  he  has  a  queer  walk. 

It  isn't  because  he  is  a  sworn  enemy  of  the  up-to- 
date  tailor. 

It  is— 

Because  he  is  simple. 

Because  he  is  sincere. 

Because  he  is  convincingly  "not  smart." 

Some  of  the  finest  failures  as  salesmen  are  too 
blanked  smart  to  sell  real  estate. 

They  charm  with  their  brilliancy,  their  dash  and 
their  appearance,  but  above  all,  they  impress  the  ordi- 
nary man  that  they  know  so  much  more  than  he  does 
that  the  buyer  immediately  becomes  wary. 

Human  qualities  of  sincerity,  "commonness"  and 
even  slowness  of  speech  compel  confidence  where  extra 
smartness  puts  the  buyer  on  guard. 

Unerringly  men  and  women  sidestep  the  man  who 
knows  it  all. 

Don't  simulate  simplicity  and  sincerity. 

Sham  is  worse  than  plain  assinity. 

Become  simple,  sincere,  direct. 

Peel  off  your  "selling-kid-gloves." 

Stop  being  a  parrot,  mouthing  over  a  selling  talk 
that  has  no  punch  in  it. 

Get  your  buyer  like  the  "Old  Homestead"  got  over 
the  footlights  for  a  quarter  of  a  century — by  being 
human. 


Number  Twenty -Six 


THE  other  day  a  great  railway  system  announced 
that  it  would  remove  from  its  service  all  em- 
ployes whose  home  life  is  unhappy. 

The  managers  of  that  road  are  not  posing  as  re- 
formers or  philanthropists. 

They  are  acting  simply  for  business  reasons.  The 
man  with  unpleasant  home  conditions  is  not  an  efficient 
factor  in  business. 

It's  true  of  salesmen. 

Its  application  to  the  real  estate  business  is  ap- 
parent. 

The  harrassed  man  lacks  the  selling  punch. 

Indigestion  has  caused  more  than  one  business 
revolution. 

Dyspepsia  caused  by  bad  cooking  has  killed  many 
a  business  success. 

Nagging  wives  and  quarreling  husbands  are  a  poor 
foundation  on  which  to  establish  a  career. 

One  head  of  a  big  corporation  the  other  day  said : 
"No  more  married  men  need  apply/'  He  was  sick 
and  disgusted  because  of  the  interference  with  his 
business  by  the  domestic  difficulties  of  men  on  his  staff. 

Sweeten  up  your  home  or  your  business  will  go 
sour. 

Any  time  a  bar  seems  better  than  your  home  take 
the  pledge  and  clean  house. 


Number  Twenty-  Seven 


THE  public  be  damned !"  caused  a  large  dividend 
of  trouble  to  be  handed  to  one  of  the  Vander- 
bilts  some  years  ago. 

A  similar  attitude  on  the  part  of  realty  salesmen 
prevails  in  many  quarters  today. 

Not  only  must  the  buyer  beware  while  he  is  buy- 
ing, but  he  must  be  all-fired  lonesome  after  he  does  buy. 

The  fifth  wheel  of  a  wagon  or  the  second  tail  of  a 
cat  is  a  household  necessity  as  compared  with  the  desir- 
ability of  having  a  buyer  around  after  he  has  once 
been  sold. 

The  king  is  dead ;  long  live  the  king,  is  paraphrased 
in  many  real  estate  marts  to  read: 

The  man  has  bought ;  abandon  him  and  get  a  fresh 
prospect  with  money. 

Such  an  attitude  would  kill  any  mercantile  house. 

Such  a  policy  should  end  the  life  of  any  realty  firm. 

The  real  estate  business  is  as  susceptible  of  build- 
ing up  by  duplicate  orders  as  any  other. 

When  the  potential  value  of  a  satisfied  customer 
is  fully  understood  by  the  seller  of  dirt  there  will  be 
more  attention  paid  to  the  old  buyer  and  a  greater 
confidence  between  the  real  estate  dealer  and  his  cus- 
tomers. 

Some  day  a  square,  considerate  real  estate  man 
will  be  made  a  millionaire  by  the  advertising  of  his 
loving  customers. 

Customers  that  are  ignored  after  their  first  buy 
seldom  develop  into  enthusiastic  boosters. 

It  might  pay  to  stop  collecting  commissions  long 
enough  to  say  a  kind  word  to  a  buyer  now  and  then. 


Number  Twenty- Eight 


MANY  salesmen  collect  selling  excuses  all  the  year 
around  and  wonder  why  their  sales  are  so 
slender. 

Around  Washington's  Birthday  they  can't  sell 
because  the  prospects  are  so  busy  celebrating  the  birth 
of  the  father  of  the  country. 

Decoration  Day  offers  another  excuse  to  prevent 
much  selling,  and  it  is  not  the  old  soldier,  but  the  sport- 
ing and  athletic  events  which  interfere. 

July  Fourth  has  its  fingers  crossed  on  sales  to  the 
salesmen  who  are  busy  thinking  up  reasons  why  people 
won't  buy,  and  on  this  occasion  excessive  patriotism 
obscures  the  dotted  line. 

Labor  Day  is  a  discourager  of  real  estate  activity 
in  the  lexicon  of  these  permanent  pessimists. 

Turkey  and  selling  don't  mix,  so  Thanksgiving 
Day  is  crossed  off  the  list. 

Last  and  most  distressing  of  all,  Santa  Glaus  puts 
the  kibosh  on  the  real  estate  market  for  the  most  of 
December,  according  to  the  men  who  collect  excuses 
instead  of  commissions. 

Add  to  these  spasms  of  widespread  joy  a  few  feast 
days  and  state  holidays,  and  the  restful  pessimist  has 
left  mighty  few  selling  days  the  whole  year  through. 

And  as  he  backs  off  from  all  the  holidays  he  slips 
down  and  down  till  he  reaches  the  foot  of  the  selling 
force,  and  then  snuffs  out  as  a  salesman  and  takes  a 
permanent  holiday. 


Number  Twenty-Nine 


WHAT  was  your  batting  average  on  the  sales 
board  for  19121  Will  it  be  bigger  and  more 
consistent  in  1913? 

Make  yourself  a  Christmas  present  of  a  new  speed 
for  the  new  year. 

Take  a  hitch  in  your  trousers,  tighten  up  your 
belt,  and  make  1913  the  best  ever  of  a  notable  selling 
career.  After  the  Christmas  turkey  has  been  digested, 
clean  up  the  odds  and  ends  of  the  old  year  and  clear 
the  decks  for  1913. 

Don't  wait  till  Easter  to  get  your  selling  stride. 
Start  even  heel  and  toe. 

Make  Weston  look  like  a  stone  image  going  back- 
ward in  the  Marathon  of  1913. 

Don't  be  like  the  darkey.  He  agreed  for  a  chunk 
of  money,  a  jug  of  whiskey,  and  a  mess  of  ham  and 
yams  to  sleep  all  night  in  a  haunted  house.  The  owner 
of  the  house,  according  to  agreement,  locked  him  in 
and  barred  the  window.  In  the  morning  the  house  was 
empty — all  the  sash  was  gone  from  the  window,  and  a 
trail  of  scattered  window  glass  showed  the  trail.  Four 
days  later  a  very  mussed-up  black  man  appeared. 
Asked  where  he'd  been  all  this  time,  he  replied: 

"Fse  done  been  comin'  back." 

Never  mind  about  coming  back.    Keep  going! 


Number  Thirty 


SOME  real  estate  salesmen  have  been  i t Burbanked. ' ' 
They  are  like  the  famous  cactus — 1 1  spineless. " 
They   are   like    some    actors — letter   perfect   in 
the  parts  they  play,  but  they  fall  down  in  actual  acting. 

They  can't  get  it  over  the  footlights. 

Many  a  man  with  an  abundance  of  gray  matter 
makes  a  good  selling  talk  to  himself  and  can  get  up 
before  the  mirror  and  sell  himself  most  any  piece  of 
real  estate,  but  when  he  tries  to  convince  another  man 
that  his  future  happiness  depends  on  his  possession 
of  a  particular  piece  of  land,  he  has  "  goose  flesh, " 
knocking  of  the  knees,  and  a  slight  attack  of  nervous 
prostration. 

Sometimes  this  is  due  to  a  lack  of  physical  endur- 
ance sometimes  to  a  fear  of  his  f ellowmen. 

Salesmen  like  these  need  reinforced  concrete 
spines.  They  have  everything  else,  and  if  they  could 
only  swallow  some  assorted  ramrods,  they  would  make 
the  sales  record  of  1913. 

Don't  depend  on  the  Steel  Trust  for  your  selling. 
It  has  troubles  of  its  own,  and,  believe  me,  it  is  watch- 
ing out  for  them.  If  you  take  care  of  your  half  as  well 
you  can  be  driving  your  own  Lozier  by  March  1st. 

Furnish  your  own  steel !  Stand  on  your  own  bot- 
tom! Don't  fancy  somebody  else  is  twice  as  game  as 
you  are,  and  therefore  you  must  lean  on  him.  Take  a 
big  brace  and  try  leading  somebody,  instead  of  follow- 
ing everybody  or  anybody! 


Number  Thirty-One 


SOME  salesmen  try  to  hold  down  two  jobs  at  one 
time. 
And  generally  fail  at  both. 

It  takes  a  genius  to  be  a  poo-bah. 

Only  a  man  like  the  late  P.  D.  Armour  could  be 
shaved,  eat  luncheon,  dictate  a  letter  and  carry  on  a 
conversation  at  the  same  time. 

Most  of  us  common  mortals  are  only  able  to  hold 
down  one  job  at  a  time  and  do  that  fairly  well. 

Every  real  estate  salesman  should  beware  of  the 
commercial  sin  of  covering  too  much  territory. 

There  is  a  story  that  illustrates  this : 

A  man  in  a  bar-room  once  said  that  he  could  lick 
anybody  in  the  room.  No  one  accepted  his  challenge. 
Somewhat  disappointed,  he  said  he  could  lick  anybody 
in  the  State  of  California.  Still  nobody  called  his  bluff, 
and,  depressed  and  aggravated,  he  said  he  could  lick 
anybody  in  the  United  States.  A  little  wizen-up  man 
at  the  end  of  the  bar  took  one  poke  at  his  jaw,  and 
five  minutes  later  when  the  aggressive  person  regained 
consciousness,  some  one  asked  him  what  was  the  mat- 
ter. From  a  mussed-up  face  he  answered: 

"I  covered  too  blame  much  territory." 


Number  Thirty-Two 


SO  MANY  salesmen  never  can  learn  to  sell  real 
estate  the  "hard  way."  They  sell  it  the  easy, 
shiftless  way,  and  either  the  dirt  don't  stay  sold 
or  the  firm  that  makes  the  sale  gets  all  the  reaction  of 
careless  selling  and  loses  a  customer  that  should  be  a 
friend  and  booster. 

It  takes  strength  of  character  to  point  out  the 
poor  points  of  a  piece  of  property.  It  is  much  easier 
to  say  the  convenient  thing  than  it  is  to  tell  the  truth, 
but  the  latter  way  is  the  only  way  to  sell  right. 

Too  many  men  agree  with  the  man  who  sold  the 
horse,  that  poor  points  should  be  kept  a  secret. 

This  horse  trader,  when  berated  by  a  victim  who 
found  his  horse  blind  in  one  eye,  said: 

1 1 Well,  the  feller  that  sold  that  hoss  to  me  didn't 
say  nothing  about  it,  and  I  sure  thought  it  was  a  secret 
that  wasn't  to  be  mentioned." 


Number  Thirty- Three 


SELLING  dirt  is  harder  work  than  laying  brick. 
Chasing  prospects  is  drudgery. 
Reiterating  an  old  selling  tank  is  as  interesting 
as  a  million  miles  of  sand. 

If- 

You  are  doing  it  mechanically  and  leaden-hearted. 

It's  all  still  life. 

Il  is  all  flat  and  inert,  with  no  more  excitement  than 
a  wooden  Indian. 

But- 

If  you  are  selling  men  and  women. 

Awaken!  nir  human  motives  and  directing  human 
actions. 

The  game  is  a  great  and  exciting  one,  and  as  thril- 
ling as  a  drama. 

Arousinir  an  impulse  to  buy  is  like  scaring  up  rare 
game. 

Closing  the  sale  is  as  full  of  triumph  as  getting 
your  first  buck. 

And   forgetting  to  acquire  buck  fever. 

Humani/e  the  selling  game. 

<Iet  awav  from  still  life  and  inertia. 


Number  Thirty-Four 


SOME  real  estate  men  are  as  persistent  as  flies  on  a 
bald  head  and  with  about  the  same  result. 
They  cause  annoyance — that  is  about  all. 

A  good  many  salesmen  mistake  the  meaning  of  the 
word  persistency. 

They  seem  to  think  that  it  means  sticking  on  with 
a  bulldog  grip. 

They  construe  persistency  to  be  an  antidote  for 
obstinacy,  but  they  do  not  combine  their  persistency 
with  any  diplomacy  or  selling  resourcefulness. 

They  do  not  produce  a  single  new  argument  or  a 
new  bit  of  selling  talk  and  reiterate  the  callous  part  of 
their  canvass. 

Successful  salesmen  are  politely  persistent  and 
practical. 

They  combine  with  their  dogged  follow-up  new 
arguments  why  a  signature  should  decorate  the  dotted 
line. 

That  is  prosperity,  persistency  and  the  only  one 
worth  while. 


Guy  M.  Rush  Company 
takes  pleasure  in  inviting  all 
members    of    the    Real    Estate 

profession  throughout  the  country  to 
utilize  its  superior  facilities  for  the 
transaction  of  Real  Estate  Business  in 
the  State  of  California. 

Usual  courtesy  to  agents. 

Syndicate  and  sub-division  operations  a 
specialty.  901  Story  Building,  6th  and 
Broadway,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.  Home 
60055,  Sunset  Broadway  24. 


traylord  Bros.  Inc. 

Makers 
Stockton,  Calif. 

PAT.  JAN.  21,  1908 


785932 


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